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It will draw on the couple's sexually explicit letters to each other, in which they discussed their obsession with kinky behaviour such as flagellation.

Both Fleming and his wife had countless affairs with other people.

Womaniser: The author with his wife Ann Charteris; the series will document their rocky relationship

‘It tells the story of how Fleming desperately wanted to be someone he couldn’t be, so he created the person he wanted to be on the page and that person was James Bond,’ said an executive involved with the production.

The TV series will also explore Fleming’s complex relationship with his mother - who once forced him to break off an engagement because she disliked his fiancée - and with other women in his life.

Mr Cooper, who starred in Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys as well as its film adaptation, plus movies Mamma Mia! and An Education, will portray Fleming from the late 1920s, when he failed as a stockbroker but transformed himself into a successful lothario.

He was a talented linguist - enabling him to chat up women in four languages.

Hit: Fleming with the first James Bond actor Sean Connery on the set of Dr No in 1962

But he found his true vocation when he was commissioned as a lieutenant commander and became assistant to the director of Naval Intelligence.

His boss, Admiral John Godfrey, was to become the model for M in the Bond novels.

Many of the counter-intelligence operations Fleming was involved in during the Second World War found their way into his 007 thrillers.

The author wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952. A heavy drinker and smoker, he died of a heart attack in 1964, aged 56.

Stars: The Sky Atlantic series will feature Dominic Cooper, left, as Fleming with Lara Pulver, right, playing Ann

Franchise: Daniel Craig in Skyfall, the latest James Bond film which has grossed $1billion worldwide

Filming on the story of his life starts next week on location in Budapest, London and Jamaica, the Caribbean island where Fleming built his dream home Goldeneye

The house was named after the code-word for one of his wartime operations, and would later become the title of a Bond movie.

In a statement, Mr Cooper said he has always been a huge Bond fan.

’To play a world icon like Ian Fleming is a great challenge for an actor,' he said. 'I’m really excited to have the opportunity to bring him to life.’

The current Bond film, Skyfall, has taken a record-breaking £110million at the UK box office alone, and over $1billion globally. It has been nominated for several Bafta awards and five Oscars.